sheet, next on the third, then vertically on a page, etc. Uncle Albert
retorts:
Thy aunt Ann Eliza says to tell thee we are temperate drinkers and
hope to remain so. We should think from the shape of thy letter
that thou thyself hadst had a good horn from the contents of the
cider barrel, a part being written one side up and a part the other
way, and it would need some one in nearly the same predicament to
keep track of it. We hope thy cranium will get straightened when
the answer to this is penned, so that we may follow thy varied
thoughts with less trouble. A little advice perhaps would be good
on both sides, and they that give should be willing to receive. See
to it that thou payest me down for this.
This letter also gives an insight into the medical practice of the good
old times. A niece, Cynthia, is being treated for the dropsy by
"drinking copiously of a decoction made by charring wormwood in a close
vessel and putting the ashes into brandy, and every night being
subjected to a heavy sweat." It recommends plenty of blue pills and
boneset for the ague. Later, Susan writes of a friend who is "under the
care of both Botanical and Apothecary doctors." For hardening of wax in
the ear she sends an infallible prescription: "Moisten salt with
vinegar and drop it in the ear every night for six weeks; said to be a
certain cure."
The staid and puritanical young woman is much disturbed at the
enthusiastic reception given President Van Buren at New Rochelle, and
writes home:
We had quite a noise last Fifth day on the occasion of Martin's
passing through this village. A band of splendid music was sent for
from the city, and large crowds of people called to look at him as
if he were a puppet show. Really one would have thought an angelic
being had descended from heaven, to have heard and seen the
commotion. The whole village was in an uproar. Here was a mother
after her children to go and gaze upon the great man, and there was
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